Waste Disposal

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many incinerators are used in England to burn (a) household, (b) industrial and (c) other waste.

Ben Bradshaw: The Environment Agency regulates 64 incinerators in England under the Integrated Pollution Control Regime (Environmental Protection Act 1990, part 1) and the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000 SI 1972. The breakdown is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Burning household waste 16 
			 Burning industrial waste (5)23 
			 Burning other waste (6)25 
		
	
	(5) Two merchant waste incinerators and the remaining 21 are in-house waste incinerators.
	(6) Clinical waste, sewage sludge and animal carcase incinerators
	As regards smaller incinerators regulated by local authorities, data from our 2003–04 statistical survey for England and Wales (http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/lapc/survey0304/index.htm) shows 65 incinerators were regulated and a further 36 combustion plant. We do not have a breakdown of how many of the 36 combustion plant burnt waste.
	Separate data collected for 2001–02 for England and Wales (http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/lapc/aqnotes/pdf/aq03(02).pdf) show that 19 installations were subject to guidance for waste combustion plant, 22 used clinical waste incineration guidance, 26 used animal carcase incineration guidance and seven used general waste incineration guidance.